580 GAME BIBDS OF CALIFORNIA 



while the White-wiuged Dove of tlie lower Colorado Valley is also 

 decidedly smaller and has a conspicuous white wing patch. 



The cooing of the Band-tailed Pigeon reminds one of that of the 

 domestic pigeon and is easily distinguishable from the notes of the 

 Mourning Dove. Grinnell (1905, p. 382) describes the notes heard 

 on Mount Pinos as a deep monotonous coo-coo, coo-coo, coo-coo, or 

 tuck-o6, tuck-ou. Elsewhere the notes are described (Bailey, 1902, 

 p. 139) as sometimes a calm whoo-hoo-Jioo, whoo-hoo-hoo, at other 

 times a spirited ho6p-ah-who6, and again a two-syllabled ivJioo-ugh, 

 made up of a short hard hoot and a long coo, as if the breath were 

 sharply expelled for the first note and drawn in for the second. 



These pigeons are to be seen in flocks at all times of the year, but 

 the aggregations become larger in the winter months. When forag- 

 ing flocks visit the foothills and valleys a hundred or more may some- 

 times be seen together. In earlier years bands of upwards of a thou- 

 sand were occasionally observed. The usual assemblage now consists 

 of from one to three dozen birds. Often, even during the height of 

 the nesting season, flocks of a half dozen or more birds may be seen. 

 Apparently these birds, whose nests may be widely scattered througli 

 the forest, associate together for feeding. 



A benefit which accrues from the flocking habit is the individual 

 safety attained through community watchfulness. This may be con- 

 sidered as in part counterbalancing the possibility of pot-shooting 

 numbers of the birds at one time because of their being massed in a 

 flock. The gregarious habit brings both benefit and danger to the 

 birds ; but with the increased deadliness of firearms, it would seem 

 that the flocking habit brings disproportionately greater danger as 

 time goes on. When foraging on the open ground, pigeons show 

 little trepidation, save when closely approached. In the foliage of 

 trees or bushes, upon the approach of man or beast, the birds usually 

 remain perfectly quiet and thus often elude observation altogether. If 

 routed out by a too close approach, they leave their perches abruptly, 

 with a disconcerting clapping of the wings ; and, acquiring great 

 velocity with surprising quickness, they are almost instantly far 

 beyond reaeli of the bobcat's spring or even of the hunter's shot. In 

 flight, tlie flock formation is relatively open, and distantly separated 

 individuals are often to be seen trailing behind the main body. In 

 passage down a mountain side, the flight is inconceivably swift, the 

 wings being held close in to the sides, beating only at long intervals, 

 and the body veering slightly from side to side in its arrow-like 

 course. This headlong flight produces a rushing noise as of escaping 

 steam. 



Near Julian, San Diego County, early in July, 1910, Huey (1913, 

 p. 152) made observations upon a flock of wild pigeons foraging in 



